New coil troubles

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Christopher" <cpfortun@xxxxxxxxxx>

Hi,

I'm writing in regards to a new coil I recently constructed. The specs are 
as follows : 9kv franceformer....180mA, SRSG, a total of 24 caps.....8 
seriesed 3 legs paralled.. (.15MFD at 2000V each) making for a total of 
.058MFD, the primary coil consists of 11 turns......the first four turns 
are vertical and the other seven are horizontal.....I am using 1/4" soft 
copper tubing "OD" and the spacing between the turns is 1/4", the secondary 
is 3" "OD" with a total height of 24 1/2" with the magnet wire wrap length 
meausuring 22 3/4"........on top of the secondary is a spacer which holds 
the toroid a total of 3 1/2" above the secondary, the toroid measures 19 
1/2" by 4". The electrical connections are as follows : xfmr is in parallel 
with the caps, on end of the caps is connected straight into the primary 
coil, the other end of the caps is connected to the spark gap (one side of 
the spark gap), the other side of the spark gap is used for the tapping 
point of the primary coil, (The safety gap, secondary coil, and strike rail 
are connected together as one source going to RF ground). If there may be 
any questions that need further explaination in regards to the mechanical 
or electrical setup let me know.
Moving on to my troubles.......when I initially constructed my coil I 
allowed for a 5" inside diameter between my secondary and 
primary........which left a total of 1" spacing between these two. This 
wasn't enough because I was getting sparks from my primary to my secondary 
on the vertical turns. So I redid my primary and made for a 6" inside 
diameter needless to say this fixed the problem and decreased the tapping 
point. The problem now is that my streamers are extremely short, maybe 10 
inches, and I am getting sparks that start about the middle of my secondary 
which strike down to my primary. The tapping point has no effect on the 
size of the streamers no matter where I tap it, they are the same l ength. 
I tried raising the secondary gradually but has no effect on eliminating 
the sparks from the secondary to the primary.....I either get sparks or 
nothing at all. The spark gap is set up as 4 stationary electrodes and 1 
rotating electrode. I am also using a variac with this system. After the 
spark gap has been turned on and operated up to full speed, I slowly turn 
up the variac from 0 V to 120 V, this is the reaction of the spark 
gap....all four will fire, then two will fire and them the other two will 
fire almost instantaneously, then only two of the electrodes will fire 
until I reach 80 volts and then all four will kick in again and stay on up 
to 120 volts. Does this sound pretty normal for the operation of it ? 
Anyhow that's enough for now.
Any feedback in regards to the sparks from the secondary to the primary and 
just the overall setup and operation of this unit will be greatly 
appreciated :)
Thanks,
Chris F.
<mailto:cpfortun@xxxxxxxxxx>cpfortu n@xxxxxxxxxx